Order aggressiveness and quantity: How are they determined in a limit order market?

Dealers trading in a limit order market must choose both the order aggressiveness and the quantity for their orders. Since little research has considered how dealers make this trade-off, we empirically investigate how dealers jointly make these decisions in the foreign exchange market using a unique simultaneous equations model. Our model uses an ordered probit model to account for the discrete nature of order aggressiveness and a censored regression model to capture the quantity decision recognizing the clustering of orders at the smallest available quantity, $1 million. Using two currency pairs with very different trading characteristics, we find evidence of a trade-off between order aggressiveness and quantity. We also find a significant role being played by factors related to the levels of information asymmetry and liquidity in the dealers' choices of both the order aggressiveness and quantity.